It's a Soligor spot sensorII with a zone system decal on the lens. I've never used a spot meter and without an instruction manual feel a bit intimidated! Can anyone with this or a similar meter give me a basic walk through? Thanks!

Sean,
First thing to do is set the film speed. For starters just half the box recommended speed. (HP5+ says 400 and so it will be set at 200) Look thru the eye piece and point it at some tone then pull the trigger. There will be a red (?) number in the housing or maybe it is a graph with a needle. If you set that number to the zone V mark that is where the tone should be in the neg and in the print. In use what you want to do is locate where you want to have the shadow detail. Some say this is Zone III and some place this value on Zone IV. Say you decide that Zone III is for you put that number on the Zone III mark on the decal. That will determine your exposure. See how the shutter speeds and f:stops line up? Now read what you think is the tone in the highlight where you want detail. That is zone VII. Are there 5 stops there in f:stops? If so, development is normal if there are 4, then development is +1 and if there are 6 then a -1 development is indicated. That is the skinny.

I have nothing to add to the method described, but I own the same meter, and there are a couple other things to know.

If you look at the trigger, you'll see a small screw that you can use to adjust the meter's overall sensitivity. If you have a 35mm camera with a spot meter you trust, you can use it as your baseline. Otherwise you can set up a grey card in daylight, and adjust it to zone V.

Also, and this is just for information only, under the metal Soligor label on the side of the meter, there are three (I believe) pot screws that are used to adjust the sensitivity of the meter at different frequencies. This is especially helpful if you are at extreme altitudes with an abundance of blue light. I wouldn't recommend screwing with them, but it's something to know.